The influence of top management team diversity on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) reporting: Evidence from Sri Lanka

Abstract

Motivated by the limited attention given to the impact of top management teams on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this study sets out to identify the extent to which companies engage in SDG reporting and assess the impact of top management team diversity on SDG reporting based on the upper echelons theory. The data were collected by analyzing the sustainability reports of the listed entities over a three‐year period and conducting semistructured interviews. Findings show that the average disclosures related to SDGs are still at a deficient level and that top management team diversity does not have an impact on SDG reporting in Sri Lankan companies. The qualitative evidence shows that the existing corporate sustainability strategies have been aligned with SDGs, rather than being reformulated or designed to integrate with the SDG targets. Hence, in Sri Lanka, SDG reporting is limited by the superficial attention given to them in corporate strategies. This is a pioneering study that investigates the relationship between top management team diversity and SDG reporting using an explanatory sequential approach.

Sustainable development goals disclosures: Evidence from Sri Lanka

“…The findings suggest that a lack of awareness is a contributing factor to the lower level of SDG disclosures. It has been emphasized that the awareness of the top management team plays an important role in integrating SDGs into companies in Sri Lanka (Weerasinghe et al (2023) and in the adoption of new developments in disclosure practices (Gunarathne & Senaratne, 2017;Herath et al, 2021). Consequently, a lack of awareness regarding SDGs may result in poor integration and, subsequently, lower levels of SDG disclosures.…”

“…The UN SDGs place a strong emphasis on developing countries to ensure that "no one should be left behind" (The Borgen Project, 2018). Therefore, it is essential to direct scholarly attention to the corporate sector in South Asian countries like Sri Lanka (Weerasinghe et al, 2023), where the government lacks sufficient resources to fund the SDGs and is currently struggling with an economic crisis (Colombage et al, 2023). Sri Lanka is a country with a progressive accounting profession that is amplified by professional accounting bodies and universities (Senaratne & Gunarathne, 2017).…”

Walking on the gender tightrope: Unlocking ESG potential through CEOs' dynamic capabilities and strategic board composition

“…A fixed-effects panel data regression with robust standard errors was chosen based on these tests. The choice of regression analysis as the primary methodological approach in this study is well grounded and justified based on the theoretical frameworks and prior literature in the field (e.g., Henry et al, 2019;Heubeck & Meckl, 2023;Holzmayer & Schmidt, 2020;Weerasinghe et al, 2023). Hypothesis H2 argues that BGD nonlinearly moderates the relationship between DCCs and ESG performance.…”